The Internet, which is a human centered connectivity network where humans generate and consume information, is now evolving to the Internet of Things (IoT) where distributed entities, such as things, exchange and process information without human intervention. The Internet of Everything (IoE), which is a combination of the IoT technology and the Big Data processing technology through connection with a cloud server, has emerged. As technology elements, such as “sensing technology”, “wired/wireless communication and network infrastructure”, “service interface technology”, and “Security technology” have been demanded for IoT implementation, a sensor network, a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication, Machine Type Communication (MTC), and so forth have been recently researched.
Such an IoT environment may provide intelligent Internet technology services that create a new value to human life by collecting and analyzing data generated among connected things. IoT may be applied to a variety of fields including smart home, smart building, smart city, smart car or connected cars, smart grid, health care, smart appliances and advanced medical services through convergence and combination between existing Information Technology (IT) and various industrial applications.
A Social Networking Service is an online-platform to build and reinforce social relations among people through rich opinion exchange, information sharing, and social network extension. Most of the SNSs are web-based and provide means for users to communicate over the Internet such as e-mail and instant messaging.
With the increase of smartphone users and popularization of wireless Internet service, the number of SNS users is increasing rapidly and it is expected that this tendency won't stop for the time being. In respect of making it possible to categorize the service users into groups based on their tendency and manage the groups by means of a database, the potential utilization value of SNS as a marketing tool is rising. This is because the companies can execute customized marketing for the target groups at low cost. Also, the SNS providers are building lucrative revenue models of selling the advertisement space on the SNS pages and social games and items so as to make it possible to expect the continuous growth of the SNS market.
With the proliferation of SNS, various service ideas are conceived around SNS.
Examples of recent SNS-based sites include ‘FOURSQUARE™ (location information-based social service)’, ‘WAZE™ (cloud sourcing real time traffic information)’, and ‘SNAPCHAT™ (photo sharing service)’. FOURSQUARE™ provides the user with the location information-based information collected with the contents (through a check-in button) about predetermined categories and locations (typically stores). It is not for use of creating any event or story which is not granted to “store” or a predetermined category.
WAZE™ relates to car navigation contexts. It provides real time information on traffic conditions, presence of police, accident locations, etc. based on the data input by drivers. The driver may send a message to notify of an accident or unexpected traffic jam at the wheel.
SNAPCHAT™ uses a photo view idea of a very short time (e.g. 3-10 seconds). Users set a time limit for how long recipients can view their photos, after which they are hidden from the recipient's device and deleted from SNAPCHAT™'s servers. This focuses on the photo sharing.